Buckle.



APPLICATION FILED OCT-6. 19 69.

WALTER A. HOLDEN, 0E ANSONIA, CONNECTICUT, AssIGNoE To THE ROBERT N.BAS- sETT COMPANYyOIE SHELTON, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATIONOF CONNECTICUT.

BUCKLE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented J line-6, 1911.

Application filed October 6, 1909. Serial No. 521,377.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER A..HOLDEN, a citizen of the United States,residingat Ansonia, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut,have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Buckles, of whichthe following is a specification.

My invention relates tobuckles of the lock lever class designed to carrythe extremity of a webbing and to operate along the runningportionthereof to form an adjustable loop, and its object is to providea buckle of this character having a minimum number of parts and in whichthe lever is provided with one member for holding the buckle closed andanother member for hold ing the running portion of the webbing.

With this and other objects in view my invention consists in the detailsof construction and manner of operation more fully set forth in thefollowing description and accompanying drawings in which like referencecharacters refer to corresponding parts.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a front view of my buckle showing a part ofthe lever and attached webbing broken away; Fig. 2, a vertical sectionof the parts shown in Fig. 1; Figs. 3 and 4:, rear and side viewsrespectively of the buckle before it is mounted on the webbing, and Fig.5, an enlarged vertical section showing the back bar sprung by thewedging action of the lever.

My buckle consists of a back or frame A and a front or lever B. The backA is made out of a single piece of wire having its middle portionforming the bar a from each end of which the wire is bent downwardly andthen upwardly forming the bends or fingers b, b, then outwardly orlaterally, then forwardly forming the sides 0, c and then inwardly sothat its extremities form the pintles d, d which are substantially inthe same horizontal plane with the bar a. The front or lever B is madeout of a sheet metal blank which is bent at an angle to form the usualfront portion or shield c and the web engaging member f from the rearside 7" of which latter the metal is first bent downwardly and forwardlyand then rearwardly forming a concave rear face portion 9 having itslower edge it, which may be toothed or serrated, disposed in underneathand spaced slightly from the rear edge f of the member For reasons whichwill hereinafter appear I shall style the edge h the web holding edge inorder to distinguish it from the web engaging edge f. On each side ofthe web engaging member 7 at the top of the front portion or shield cthe metal is slit toform the pintle straps i, 2', which are curledaround the pintles-d, (Z to form a pivotal or hinge connection betweenthe frame A and lever B.

The buckle constructed as above described is provided with 'an openingwhich lies substantially in a horizontal plane,that is in a plane atright angles with the normal plane of the webbing. The pintles d, d,which if desired can be extendedtoward regarded as the front side, andthe bar (1 together with the bends 5, Z) and its lateral extensionsbeyond the bends may be re-.

garded as the rear side of the horizontal opening. The extremity 7c ofthe webbing C is secured 'to the buckle by passing it upwardly over theback of the bends b, b, then forwardly over the top of the bar aanddownwardly in "front of theb'end's for'm ing a terminal loop in thewebbing which may be sewed upon itself by stitches Z, Z, Broadlyspeaking the extremity of the webbing is folded around the rear side ofthe opening above mentioned and fastened upon itself. The end of thewebbing being thus secured the running portion is carried downwardly andthen returned upon itself passing upwardly through the opening betweenthe lever and the stitched extremity, thereby forming an adjustable loopin the webbing carrying the cast oif piece D.

Durlng the operation of webbing the buckle the front portion of thelever is raised so that the opening presents an unobstructed passage tothe webbing. When it is desired to close the buckle to lock the runningportion of the webbing in its adjusted position the front member 6 ofthe lever is lowered causing the edge f to first engage the runningportion below the bar a and finally just above the bar a. During themovement of the edge f between these two positions, that is in passingby the front of the bar a, it presses the bar rearwardly, as shown infull lines in Fig. 5, acting through. the medium of the interposedlayers of webbing. When the edge f has passed above the bar a, as shownin dotted lines in Fig. 5,

the bar springs back again to its normal position causing a slightdeflection of the running portion of the webbing forwardly in under theedge f which latter crowds the running portion rearwardly against theupper corner of the loop formed by the stitched extremity 76 as shown inFig. 2.

lVhen the buckle is closed the teeth or serrations it, which follow thepath of the edge f, coact with the lower portion of the bar a to grip orclamp the running portion. Thus when the buckle is closed the teeth Itgrip or clamp the running portion of the webbing and the edge f not onlylocks the lever to prevent its being upset or opened but also bycrowding the running portion as above described reduces to a minimum theunsightly hump caused by the top of the stitched loop projectingrearwardly beyond the plane of the running portion. It will be observedthat in employing a lever having one edge for holding the buckle closedand a different edge for clamping the webbing I am enabled to utilize awire back or frame which presents a single member or bar alone to thelever edges instead of a plurality of members or a face portion of asheet metal plate, which latter are usually essential for the perfectoperation of a buckle having a single lever edge mounted to swing infront instead of above the back. It will further be observed that thebends Z), Z; not only serve as finger pieces and balancing members butalso are sufliciently resilient to permit the bar a to yield bodily inresponse to the wedging action of the lever.

I have herein described the preferred forms of my invention but it isobvious that the same may be embodied in such modifications as fairlycome within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now described my invention what I claim and desire to protect byLetters Patent is:

l. A buckle comprising a back provided with a bodily yielding cross barextending across the top thereof and a pivoted lever having a webengaging portion arranged to swing to a position above the horizontalplane of its pivotal points and to coact with the upper corner of thecross bar to lock the buckle closed, the said lever being provided withseparate web holding means.

2. A buckle comprising a frame bent up out of a single piece of wire toform a bodily yielding web attaching bar and pintles disposed in frontof but substantially on a level with said bar, and a lever carriedby'said pintles provided with superposed web engaging portions one ofwhich is arranged to coact with the upper corner of said bar when thebuckle is closed.

WALTER A. HOLDEN.

Witnesses VEnRnNIoE MUNGER, ADA M. GEsNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

